Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1887-07-17
Trouble for Coupon-Tendcrers.


has stated that the age42pf the Wheeler
II Wilson Sewing Machine Company,
after having rendered coupons in pay
ment Of bis licensc-tax, had suddenly
changed his mind and paid his dues in
cash.
The alleged ground OF this change,
II seems, vas that "Me Statc Wds
0iring the agents. rGretlinJ statesmen
iyoUJic, 01d REFUSING to issue them
Hccn8cS." This is true. The State is
giving, and means to give, all the trou-
bic it can to all coupon-tenderers.
But Mr.. Cooper says this agent also
assigned another reason for his change
of mind-to wit, that one of his sub
agents was running for n public office,
and could not be elected il his prlncl-
pal paid his taxes in coupons. Whether
any one of his agents is running for
Office or not ! cannot say. But this |
know: One of the very best and most
popular of them either returned or
said he would return all the machines
he had, and refused to act any longer
for a man who paid his taxes in cou-
pons!
So it now appears that JOycOH was
declared against a machine whose agent
so paid his tax; that it succeeded and
that Mr.. Cooper admits the fact under
his own name. The people accept the
admission and thank the man who has
started this certain remedy against the
use OF coupons. ] do not conceive my
self authorized TO give the name of the
young man who has set this fine exam
pie; but / hope some of his friends
will give it. But l may say that he
volunteered in the late war when a boy
and fought through to the end like II
man and it was to be expected that
now, though poor and needy, he should
again stand up in defence of the laws
of his State.
Mr. Cooper sneers at the "extraor-
dinarily rapid development OF the pa
triotic idea in the mind of the main
agent. But he says nothing OF the pa
triotism of this young man, who is said
to have returned the machines,
or Of that of the men and women
who refuse to cOuntenance those
who use coupons. Yet it is the
patriotism of t1Ose people which
will secure the rights of the State.
When the occasion becomes urgent
they will come to the relief OF
their country, and will show by
concerted action that they think the
Virginian who pays his taxes in cou-
pons is no better than, il as good AS,
the hondholder who insists upon the
Last cent that can be eXtorted. They
will create public opinion that will
sweep the State. There Is one sen
tence, which l heard years ago, as The
only one that tradition had preserved
Of Mr.. Henry's speech in the Parsons
case. and it is this : "Such, said the
orator, "such is the ayarice and the
insatiate thirst for gold OF these ecclesi-
a.tical barpies that they would grab
the last hoe cake from the widow and
the orphan and snatch the last blanket
from the lying-in woman" This.
he it remembered, was uttered not
of the bondhoiders or stock -jobbers,
but OF the clergy OF Virginia, who
claimed that they had the law on their
side that it had given special title as
it had done for nearly hundred years
to so many pounds of each planters to-
bacco, in lieu of tithes who argued
that this stipend was necessary TO the
support of their families, as, in fact, it
was, and who contended that the in
tcrests of religion demanded that her
ministers should be subsistcd, as, in
some way, they clearly should be. But
the Jury agreed with Mr. Henry. Their
verdict, ratified all over the colony,
caused every one Of the many similar
suits to be dismissed, and formed the
germ of public opinion which at a
later day disestablished the Episcopli
Church The instinct of the people
had shown them that privilege, even IN
the hands OF a religious sect, was hurt
full to piety, andat least as dangerous to
liberty as the greed Of bondholder.
The present case is far weaker. The
men who try to use coupons have no
special claim to them. but only the
right to purchase them in open market.
They are under no necessity to use
them-none whatever. Their families
DO not require to be subsisted in this
way they can live without it Neither
religion nor morality demands that a
fraud upon the people shall be acknow-
lodged as valid contract. They can
not be acting in the interest of the
bondholders whilst they exact fifty
cents in the dollar as the price of their
service, nor saving the honor OF the
State by forcing fraudulent coupons
upon tine Treasury when they make
one half their taxes clear by the
process, put the difference upon their
fellow-ciiizens, and risk giving the
State to Malone and his negroes. Such
men cannot expect to escape the con-
demnation which sooner or later over
takes every one who, under whatever
motive. advances his own interests at
the expense of the public good. Ii,
during the war, the Supreme Court OF
the United States having decided
against secession, soldier had gone
over to the Yankees and sought to save
the States honor by forcing her to ca
pitulate under the Federal interpreta-
ton of the Constitution, against which
she had taken up arms, that Virginian
would have been pronounced traitor.
But where is the difference when the
same court, having declared It's power
to compel the State to admit the va
lidity Of a fraudulent contract and to
comply with its terms, another Vir-
gilman takes advantage of that decree
TO save the honor of the State and-one
half his taxes at the same time? IL
there be difference the people cannot
see it /; and when they become aroused ed
to the Importance of the case they wili
express and act upon the opinion that
the recreant citizen is no better than
the traitorous soldier that he, too, Is
one OF class which from "insatiate
thirst for gold would grab the last hoe,
cete from the widow and orphan and